Summer Farahani Speaks
Will you help support Summer Farahani’s legacy?
Your generous giving allows Abel Speaks to support families like ours. Thank you for your partnership as we seek to ensure that every family will cherish their child’s life and have hope in the midst of sorrow!
Our Story
What a gift it is to tell the story of our Summer.
Around a month before moving to San Antonio, TX, we learned that we were pregnant with our second child. We didn’t know anyone in our new city, but we were excited for this new life ahead of us as a soon-to-be family of four.
Because we didn’t have childcare yet, I took our 2-year-old son with me to my first appointment, and Clay would meet us as quickly as he could. The doctor shared with me that the baby measured 12 weeks and, changing tones, shared that the ultrasound showed some concerning markers for a potential chromosomal anomaly. Never had a room felt so silent and so still so quickly. Numbly, I agreed to a blood test, finished the appointment, took my son, and ran to Clay, who had just arrived in the parking lot. All I could say was, “It wasn’t good.”
Clay and I sat side by side at our next appointment. Our doctor went over the test results, which indicated that our baby was a girl who had extremely high indicators for Trisomy 18. She somberly shared the life expectancies of babies with this diagnosis, offered to help us find somewhere out of state to terminate, or be there with us as we continued the pregnancy. Ultimately, we chose to carry our baby. Neither one of us could see anything other than being in the hospital room holding our baby girl.
I had always wanted a baby girl and to name her Summer. We wrestled with whether this was the name for her and ultimately decided it was always meant for her. Where nothing but darkness surrounded her, she knew none of it. She was pure sunshine.
Each week with Summer was a milestone and a gift. Her delicate body grew so uniquely, yet exactly as God designed her. In addition to her Trisomy 18 diagnosis, she developed severe holoprosencephaly, hydrocephalus, and congenital heart defects. We carried the weight of never knowing if she would make it to the next week. We also understood the honor and privilege it was to be the ones to carry her, protect her, and be her parents.
Summer was delivered by C-section on March 18, 2024. She was quiet and calm, but she was ALIVE! She had a head full of curly hair, a tiny little body, and the sweetest fingers and toes. We shared an hour of life with our beautiful girl. She met her brother, who had just turned 3 years old. It was my biggest dream to be able to hold both of my children alive, and I got that gift.
In a quiet room, she passed into death in my arms, listening as Clay read her the letters we had written to her. We continued to care for her and make memories with her. We gave her a bath, took handprints and footprints, read scripture over her life, and got lost memorizing every detail of her sweet little face. We came home without her and buried her just two and a half weeks later.
Paying it Forward
Abel Speaks was one of the first places we went to find community and support in a city where we were still new. Abel Speaks immediately brought us into their community by giving us an army of people who walked before us and showed us that it’s okay to give your babies back to the arms of the Lord and that their precious lives will forever hold tremendous meaning and impact in this world. They connected us to two other families with similar due dates as ours. They gave us a mentor family who (by God’s great kindness) lives right in our neighborhood. They stood beside us in the heaviness of both the anticipatory grief and the grief after our baby’s death. Abel Speaks resourced us with biblical literature, gifts with Summer’s name, and reminders that we aren’t alone in this walk that sometimes feels so lonely and isolating.
Now, we have the honor of linking arms with new Abel Speaks families as they receive life-limiting diagnoses, anticipate the birth of their babies, and begin to live life without their baby in their arms.
Abel Speaks continues to help us navigate the delicate balance of celebrating Summer’s life while also carrying the tremendous grief her death holds.
We prayerfully ask that you consider giving a monetary gift to Abel Speaks in Summer’s honor. We miss our girl every day, and it is our desire to continue to grow and steward her life well. A gift to Abel Speaks is a powerful way to tangibly be a part of Summer’s legacy of love and the lasting impact her little life will always carry.
By faith, Summer still speaks!
With love,
Clay and Bethany Farahani
SUPPORT ABEL SPEAKS IN HONOR OF SUMMER FARAHANI
Abel Speaks is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.
2001 W Plano Pkwy, Suite 3405 Plano, TX 75075
(972) 688-6405